"I know from my own life that when someone with multiple identities, racial or otherwise, experiences repudiation of parts of herself, the result can be brokenness and bitterness. Integrity and identity can only be redeemed through honoring her non-dualistic complexity. In the same way, the religious and spiritual brokenness and bitterness that individuals and communities feel can also be redeemed in honoring the complexity of our individual and collective religious and spiritual landscapes. As more and more persons become aware of their own multiple identities and the fractures that inhibit our ability to see other people in close proximity, we increase our need to develop the capacities to dwell interstitially.

"In interstitial space we cannot focus on a single spiritual or personal narrative. When many share a space and each is honored, a shared narrative may arise so that the intuitive awareness of our connection is nurtured into bloom. The intimacy of sharing our personal narratives with each other allowed us to see the co-dependence of our lives, illuminating the connective web of similarities and differences that make us human.

"I have found that when one nurtures the interstices, it's not a matter of 'hoping' that connections will happen — they do happen.

"In doing this, we open space to work through emotionally intense conflict peacefully and with goodwill or to hear a call to prayer for the first time as a prayer and not a call to war. These in-between relationships teach us much about what it is to be human, complex, and beautiful in ways that transcend material limits. The spiritual practices of translating, connecting, and holding that we learn here may allow us to move forward into the complexities of the future, from a place of mutual understanding.